Halfway through the first and this is the best I've seen Drummond play so far. (As I type that, he misses a dunk, lol) He's been dominating out there -swallowing a couple rebounds the way Wallace used to do, blocked a shot, forced a travel by Aldrich, and a couple nice shots on the offensive end. Good to see.

On the other hand, Knight is not looking good - buncha turnovers, ill-advised shots, no assists. He has to get quicker feeding Drummond (or whoever) off the pick and roll. OKC is recovering enough to steal his passes.

That no look feed by Daye to Drummond when he missed the dunk was one of the sweetest passes of Dayes' career. If Dre had hit that dunk it would have brought the house down.... agree with your assessment of both Drummond and Knight so far

That no look feed by Daye to Drummond when he missed the dunk was one of the sweetest passes of Dayes' career. If Dre had hit that dunk it would have brought the house down.... agree with your assessment of both Drummond and Knight so far

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Singler had a nice no-looker to Drummond yesterday, too. Singler may be pushing Daye right off the roster...

Singler had a nice no-looker to Drummond yesterday, too. Singler may be pushing Daye right off the roster...

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In my opinion, this is a given. In the limited amount of time that I've seen Singler in Summer league (yeah, that's right SUMMER league), he's already shown more aggression and a command for the game of basketball than Austin Daye has in 3 seasons.

In my opinion, this is a given. In the limited amount of time that I've seen Singler in Summer league (yeah, that's right SUMMER league), he's already shown more aggression and a command for the game of basketball than Austin Daye has in 3 seasons.

I wouldn't go too far - Daye has more that he's capable of doing with the ball, whereas Singler is showing right now that he's more of a jump-shooter.

It's funny how different Drummond has been in the second half than in the first. It looks like he's exhausted, walking around on defense, making sleepy-looking mental mistakes. I wonder if one of the biggest reasons for his perceived malaise is a lack of conditioning.

That being said, I would be VERY happy with a 10/10 average from Drummond his rookie year.

As mentioned, Andre had his best game so far, played with good energy early. And I agree that his conditioning is suspect - the difference was noticeable. Where he played Aldrich well in the beginning, he looked lethargic in the second and Aldrich repeatedly got open looks. The block late after he got called for a loose ball foul on the other end was nice though. He had 4 blocked shots total. He also did much better on the glass with 9 today. On offense, his footwork is pretty bad and he seems to rush shots. This is how he's lost the ball a few times after getting passes from Brandon.

Brandon had one to forget. He shot too much and turned it over too much. He looked frustrated, and with him, frustration will sometimes result in him shooting too much, and this was not helped by the fact they all looked lethargic and out of sync, unable to hit the broad side of the barn all game long. Except for Austin, and I'll get to that next. Of note, though, is how effortlessly he can get to the rim now. He didn't finish as well as he could've, but once he adjusts better to his increased strength and the floater starts falling again, he should be ok. His long range shots were all missed long as well. As I noted yesterday, he doesn't seem comfortable giving Andre the ball; I know he has the wraparound pass in his arsenal, but he hasn't used it to get Drum the ball where he'd typically do so for both Greg and Max - but again, I expect that to change with increased familiarity with each other.

Where Brandon shot too much, Austin didn't shoot enough. He seemed hesitant at times, and despite hitting on his outside shots, refused the open look in favor of a contested one closer to the basket. This is something we've seen often from Daye, and is very frustrating. His decision-making must improve, it really must.

Kamla reported that Kyle has officially been signed, and deservedly so. He looked especially tired, and didn't shoot nearly enough to make the other team guard him. There was a sequence near the end where Kyle ran the offense in lieu of Delaney; just thought that was interesting. Solid outing still, though not quite as good as his previous two. They all just looked like they had tired legs; we might be watching more stinkers after this one.

Kim - he too had a stinker. He also seems to constantly have blinders on when running the break. While he's gotten away with it a few times in summer league, it won't work in actual NBA action. Heck, he's run into charges numerous times already. He's also thrown away quite a few outlet passes. His shot's been off since the second game, and by today he was hesitant on the shot despite being open. Defense was, again, solid though.

Middleton - looks lost at both ends. His shot looks pretty, but like BG's, it often ends up clanging off the rim anyway.

Where Casper Ware is Bynum-lite, Dalaney looked like the PG version of 2012 regular season Austin Daye.

I wouldn't go too far - Daye has more that he's capable of doing with the ball, whereas Singler is showing right now that he's more of a jump-shooter.

It's funny how different Drummond has been in the second half than in the first. It looks like he's exhausted, walking around on defense, making sleepy-looking mental mistakes. I wonder if one of the biggest reasons for his perceived malaise is a lack of conditioning.

That being said, I would be VERY happy with a 10/10 average from Drummond his rookie year.

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I'm DVRing these games but I've only watched the first one (Utah) so far. In that game, all I saw was Singler scoring in every way possible. The dude took it to the rack several times, filled the lane on fast breaks and canned a few Js. What I like about him is the fact that he commits to whatever he's doing. He grabs a pass and instantly makes up his mind whether he's gonna drive or shoot a jumper. He basically the opposite of Tayshaun Prince in this regard.

You're absolutely right. There's a lot of stuff that Daye can do with the ball. The problem is, he's terrified to do it. He gets a pass and jab-steps and pump fakes his way out of open shots. A 6-11 dude with his skill set should be dunking on chumps for his own amusement. Instead, he refuses to post-up guards when he has an 11-inch height advantage. He's got 3 years of experience playing and practicing against NBA players. He's not an undrafted rookie. If he was worth a roster spot, he would be absolutely dominating these games.

I'm DVRing these games but I've only watched the first one (Utah) so far. In that game, all I saw was Singler scoring in every way possible. The dude took it to the rack several times, filled the lane on fast breaks and canned a few Js. What I like about him is the fact that he commits to whatever he's doing. He grabs a pass and instantly makes up his mind whether he's gonna drive or shoot a jumper. He basically the opposite of Tayshaun Prince in this regard.

You're absolutely right. There's a lot of stuff that Daye can do with the ball. The problem is, he's terrified to do it. He gets a pass and jab-steps and pump fakes his way out of open shots. A 6-11 dude with his skill set should be dunking on chumps for his own amusement. Instead, he refuses to post-up guards when he has an 11-inch height advantage. He's got 3 years of experience playing and practicing against NBA players. He's not an undrafted rookie. If he was worth a roster spot, he would be absolutely dominating these games.

Trade him for a future pick.

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If they can get trade value for him, I'd be for it. But I doubt that they'd get much better than a second, and as he's shown in the summer league here, he's better than the vast majority of talent that comes out of the second round.

As mentioned, Andre had his best game so far, played with good energy early. And I agree that his conditioning is suspect - the difference was noticeable. Where he played Aldrich well in the beginning, he looked lethargic in the second and Aldrich repeatedly got open looks. The block late after he got called for a loose ball foul on the other end was nice though. He had 4 blocked shots total. He also did much better on the glass with 9 today. On offense, his footwork is pretty bad and he seems to rush shots. This is how he's lost the ball a few times after getting passes from Brandon.

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I think a bit of leniency must be given here. Lets just remember that this guy isn't a 160pound track star. He is a 7 foot, 280 pound behemoth. I'm 6"1, go to the gym fairly regularly, only 23 and I'm gassed after the half way break. And this is forgetting that the league I play in would be lucky if it was half the pace of this. The guy is only 18-19 and he isn't ready, mentally or physically, to play 35 minutes a game. Very few people are - and this is reason why so many stand out rookies have such terrible TS%, PER and other metric stats in their first season. They simply are not ready for the pace and competition of the NBA.

He won't be ready to pull Dwight minutes for at least 2 years. Until then, we should be happy with strong appearances in the 1st and 3rd quarter and some nice numbers. I am more concerned with efficiency (with regard to point scoring) than I am with total points scored.

But as a side note, blown dunks by NBA calibre players should virtually never happen. I remember watching Sefolosha blow a bunch of dunks and just being outright embarressed for the guy.

vs. ORL Team leader camp for Brandon Knight is not working out. The guy has improved ball handling and is kicking to the open guy, you don't see that offense running presence that Russell Walker did. Maybe thats part of the game plan. If the wheels start coming off the wagon, he's not rallying the team.

Austin Daye needs to be a SG. I like his effort down on the 4 but he's not that kind of player. Confidence and rhythm is what he needs. He is capable of making good passes but they do come a shade late.

Gates. I'd love to see him make the team. Love his game and chiselled physique. Yeah I said that.

Singler: late in the game there was an open space on the floor and I was like "there an open space on the floor" and the single ran up caught a pass a knocked down a jumper. If Daye had this type of game, he'd be starting. The guy knows how to get to the open spots and make stuff happen. He's playing solid D thats also effective if not stat stuffing.

English: Afflalo 2.0b the II. English would be right at home in Flip Saunders offense. He's got the D to be at home in Frank's offense. He's going to carve a niche out for himself nicely.

Middleton: who?

Drummond: much was made of Drummond's ineffectiveness but he's playing with Daye and Singler. Orlando featured two very big and very strong guys. Its like Monroe getting doubled with Jerebko and Prince out there. Against 1 guy like Kanter or Aldrich he did rather well on D but Orlando's 2 guys muscled him out. Knight wasn't looking for him so he got lost in the muscle shuffle. The flaws in his game are evident but he'll be a lot more effective with better talent opening up the game for him.

Kamla's a great announcer. He exudes enthusiasm for all things NBa and thats great to have going on while watching scrimmages.

This was the classic case of hungry players looking to get a job out playing some tired NBA guys just looking to gel and get some experience. Mcghee was setting screens like a linebacker and I didn't understand how they let that go.

I think a bit of leniency must be given here. Lets just remember that this guy isn't a 160pound track star. He is a 7 foot, 280 pound behemoth. I'm 6"1, go to the gym fairly regularly, only 23 and I'm gassed after the half way break. And this is forgetting that the league I play in would be lucky if it was half the pace of this. The guy is only 18-19 and he isn't ready, mentally or physically, to play 35 minutes a game. Very few people are - and this is reason why so many stand out rookies have such terrible TS%, PER and other metric stats in their first season. They simply are not ready for the pace and competition of the NBA.

He won't be ready to pull Dwight minutes for at least 2 years. Until then, we should be happy with strong appearances in the 1st and 3rd quarter and some nice numbers. I am more concerned with efficiency (with regard to point scoring) than I am with total points scored.

But as a side note, blown dunks by NBA calibre players should virtually never happen. I remember watching Sefolosha blow a bunch of dunks and just being outright embarressed for the guy.

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I wasn't hating on him or anything, just relaying my observations. If it came out harsh, it wasn't what I intended. And anyway, it's not just a conditioning issue - I think he's the type who needs to be thrown a bone once in a while, and this is something Brandon must do a better job of, though he did at least try to do so before this game. And I doubt Andre will be playing 30 minutes a night right off the bat anyway - neither of our previous two lottery picks averaged more than 20 when coming off the bench iirc, which is what Andre will be doing until he's ready, and will be perfect for him. All I really want is for him to not get glued to the bench.

The blown dunks - like I said, he just seems to be rushing his shots; he knows he'll get hacked and have to go to the line if he doesn't get it up there quickly. Plus he tries to one-hand them quite a bit, always more tricky that way. You can tell he's working on his FT shooting though, and once he gets over that mental hump, he'll be able to just concentrate on making the shot, whether he gets fouled or not and will be better for it.

Honestly, I'd be happy if he averages 15-20 minutes when the season starts. The team is trying to temper expectations for him, and you can see why. But fwiw, the motor issue I think is way overblown. He's just inexperienced, but you see flashes of brilliance from him already. Just to add - him playing with Daye, he of the missed rotations and sham power forwardness, is hurting him, I agree. I really want to see him play next to Greg.

Alexa - I wasn't having a go - just noting that in general we should, as a community, try to keep reasonable expectations of the guy

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'Tis the drug of Desperation, I think. Daye can't fit anywhere else. PG? lol! SG? Bad handles, he'll be fried Austin by the end of the games. And imagine the TOs! 3? Log jam. 4? Too weak. 5? Suicide. I think they're trying to give him another chance to see if he can do better at another position, but I don't see it working out. Of course, they could also just be showcasing him to see if anyone bites. Daye's come to be known as a bit of a summer league warrior after all.

Also, I didn't think you were a having a go. It's all good, and I agree.

Daye is 17 of 27 from the floor in summer league so far with 5 threes (.630 FG%/ .722 eFG%).

Will be interesting to see if he can keep it up.

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This may perplex some, but there are two offensive juggernauts on this team. Daye and CV. Both can flat out shoot the ball. But the league is all about athletes, especially those that are quick (hands and feet), mobile and extremely reactionary on lateral cuts/reactions and have an extra twist out of the ordinary...like a PG that many times is second or third in leading the club (at times) in rebounds. One needs to have that extra step into another dimension.